Yesterday, we reported on a massive cybersecurity hack that took place at the Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration — the department that just so happens to be solely responsible for the United State’s nuclear weapon stockpile. According to the report, officials claimed that there was abundant evidence that hackers had accessed the Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration networks as part of an “extensive espionage operation” that has affected at least half a dozen different federal agencies.
However, to add insult to injury in an already dangerous and terrible situation, a former FBI director has now alleged that outgoing President Trump has been diverting money away from cybersecurity resources, meant to protect the country against instances exactly like this one, at a time when the “nation is under attack.”
Former FBI deputy director for counterintelligence, Frank Figliuzzi, sat down with MSNBC to discuss the system hack at the National Nuclear Security Administration and explained that these departments are so vulnerable to these attacks because the budget for cybersecurity under the Trump administration has left a lot to be desired in an effort to prioritize Donald’s whims about a wall.
“Make no mistake, our nation is under attack and it appears to be ongoing,” Figliuzzi stated. “How does something like this happen of this magnitude? Where 300,000 clients of a private company are potentially impacted including the most sensitive agencies in our government, it is because the Russias were able to find a single point of failure in our supply chain.”
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“Meaning this product that comes from SolarWinds is a network management product used by too many, quite frankly, of all government agencies and too many of our top telecommunications companies. Ten of which were compromised as far as we know — so far. So, it is a larger issue, Nicolle, of supply chain management.”
The former FBI director goes on to note that this situation is far more than just an intelligence failure, “it’s a national defense failure.”
“This is the defense of our nation and systems and failure to oversee our supply chain in a form of allowing one company to service so many of our government agencies,” he stated. “The Russians found that weakness and exploited it and we’re still learning the extent of the damage and Natasha reported that hour now our nuclear components have been impacted and one of the words that jumped out there the reporting is damaged.”
Figliuzzi goes on to explain why he believes cybersecurity resources are short on sufficient funds to keep themselves protected: “We have a president diverting money, billions of it, to build a wall, changing personnel at the top of the Pentagon and we’ve not heard word one about the plan or strategy to respond to this ongoing attack.”
He claims that attacks such as this are happening more and more often because “there is no one in charge from the Oval Office down throughout the intelligence community.”
“It’s just like 9/11 we’re going to need congressional oversight and increase to figure out what in Heaven’s name has happened who is in charge where did the failures occur and we need oversight and coordination like never before,” he claimed.
He also noted that serious troubles will be awaiting Joe Biden when he officially takes office and will have to take cybersecurity issues far more seriously.
“This is Warfare and Battlefield, and it means that Joe Biden on day one is going to be fighting another kind of virus the Cyber kind.”
We can only hope that Donald Trump doesn’t get the opportunity to destroy too much more on his way out.
You can watch the clip here:
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
